You're walking down the road to catch the bus. You've done it a thousand times before, and most likely will do the same journey another thousand times.

While you're walking, your brain is taking in and processing lots of data.

For instance the presence of other pedestrians will raise processes in your brain that you are not even aware you are thinking

• Do I know this person?

• Is this person in my way?

• Is this person a threat to me?

And that's just one thing, there is so much data to process as you walk to the bus stop: vehicles, weather, wildlife, time etc. All of this raw data has to be held temporarily in your brain in order for it to be processed, and the resulting data must be held in your brain for you to then be able to act on it.

The chances are, that unless an extraordinary event happens to you, the detailed data of this journey and all the other similar journeys you have made to the bus stop will never make it to your long term memory.

You only needed this data in the moment, and once passed, your brain discarded it. You did not need to remember that the old man at the bus stop was wearing a hat, or that a car honked its horn at another as you were walking.

You might hear this referred to as "Working Memory".